Explain the overlapping and cross-cutting social difference.

Overlapping social difference is a situation one kind of social difference overlaps or becomes important than the other and people consider themselves belonging to different communities. This leads to the social division. For example- in the US, the difference between the blacks and the whites where blacks were poor, homeless and discriminated on the basis of color; in India, Dalits face discrimination as they were poor and landless.

The cross-cutting social difference is a condition when one group crosscut another one. They share a common interest in one issue, and so it becomes difficult to set them in conflict against each other. This kind of social difference is easy to manage. For example – In Northern Ireland, class and religion overlaps each other whereas, in Netherland, class and religion cross-cut each other which means Catholics and Protestants in the Netherlands could be rich or poor. Thus, there is no conflict among them.